As Deputy Chief Executive of Southern Arts in the 1990s he led the Board’s capital strategy, local authority partnerships and the development and implementation of National Lottery-funded grant programmes.
He went on to be Programme Manager of Awards for All, the £50million National Lottery scheme for voluntary groups, establishing it as a long-term community grants programme, before joining HLF where he was Deputy Director of Operations from 2001-2010. In addition to overseeing the work of regional teams, Stephen managed operational partnerships with the Countryside Agency, English Heritage, National Youth Agency and others.
Since 2010 Stephen has worked as an independent cultural consultant with clients including museums, local authorities, the National Trust, campaign groups and arts organisations, for whom he provides advice on governance, business planning, project development, fundraising and evaluation.
He has been a trustee/chair of several cultural bodies including Culture Southampton, the Nuffield Theatre, Arts Research, Creative Partnerships and award winning art/architecture innovator SPUD.
He is currently chair of the strategic advisory board for Museum Development South West; a board member of Common Ground, champions of local distinctiveness, and chairs ArtfulScribe literature development agency. Co-founder of Winchester Poetry Festival, Stephen has published three volumes of poetry and lives in the Blackmore Vale in Dorset.